


So Lingers

by boychik



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: Gen, Super High-School Level Literary Girl, Writing, maybe someday i will edit my fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 22:00:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3705867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boychik/pseuds/boychik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which romance is not romantic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	So Lingers

Fukawa’s sitting at home, working on her novel, which is as of yesterday titled _So Lingers the Ocean_. It’s slated for publication this fall, and her editor has asked her to return a revised draft of the ending chapters tonight.

Her other mother’s called her for dinner twice now, but she hasn’t gone downstairs.

She hates having her concentration broken, and upon interruption tight-spring thoughts flash through her head: _God, why won’t you just shut up and let me write in peace!_ But it’s her other mother, not a classmate or a stranger, who’s calling her. So instead she just calls down weakly, I’ll be there in a minute.

But she doesn’t have any intention of going down to dinner. She’s face to face with the red-ribbed outline of _Ocean_ ’s climactic scene. In the script she went over with her editor, the poor but handsome fisherman, the object of our affection, is departing his hometown. He is on his little boat, pulling away from the coast, in some masculine heady search for his father or his identity or some fish or something that is supposedly inferior to love. The young and beautiful Kimiko, our noble heroine, has realized where he is, and has gone to confess her love to him. Her voice and tears are lost to him in the salty whipping wind, yet the strength of her heart still reaches him. He realized something is wrong. Distracted by the kraken-like awakening of emotion in his own heart, he accidentally steers his boat into a rock. Because he is poor, his boat is pretty shitty. It breaches easily and he is swept under the freezing tide. Without a second thought, Kimiko rushes out to save him. There are two reasons for this: the first is because of her unquenchable, senseless love, and the second is because although he is a fisherman, she is the far superior swimmer. Not that there was such a high bar in the first place—oh, that’s right, he should have been on his coming-of-age quest to conquer his fear of water once and for all.

Alternately, the fisherman hears her cries and voluntarily abandons his vessel, plunging overboard and struggling back to her side. She still plunges in and tries to meet him halfway, not even bothering to strip off her dainty dress or fetching boots first. They are both wearing quite a bit of clothing, actually. It’s not really realistic to expect them to bob to the surface to share their first kiss. Wouldn’t those cute kitten heels just drag Kimiko down? And his heavy emergency toolbelt would keep them apart for a pretty long time, wouldn’t it? Especially with the tide so strong and all...

Fukawa has to face the truth of her characters’ stupidity. If this happened, I don’t think either of them would make it back to shore alive. And it’s not just their choice in clothing, either. Both of them are just...not very smart people.

_Stupid Kimiko._

_He’s never gonna love you._

_What makes you think you deserve him, bitch?_

_Then again, he was stupid enough to float away from you on that tiny raft of his when he can barely swim and almost drown, relying on you to save him._

_Maybe it’s you that he doesn’t deserve._

_But don’t forget, Kimiko, you’re still stupid too! Why are you wasting your time on this idiot?_

_I love you and all_ _—_ _how could I not, you’re my heroine!_ _—_ _but maybe you should die too._

_Yeah, you guys should drown together._

_That’s pretty romantic, isn’t it?_

_Even though that’s not romance, people think it’s romantic. That’s just sad. That’s just_ —

_Stupid, so stupid..._

She can already hear Kimiko’s high-pitched protests in the back of her mind, as well as fisherman boy piping up to defend his maiden’s honor. I’m not stupid! _I’m not stupid!_ she wants to mimic in her own voice. _Just the kind of thing a fool like you would say._

 _Look,_ she wants to say to Kimiko. _He already made his choice to leave. Furthermore, his departure is at odds with your choice to chase him to the ends of the earth. Literally. You’ve already made it to the sea. When did he ask for you to follow him everywhere? Give him some space, girl! This isn’t a healthy pattern, and doesn’t bode well for your relationship._

And to Kimiko’s paramour: _Life doesn’t always have second chances, as much as we would like it to. You already made your choice, fisherboy. Even if you try to go back, you can’t swim right, dumbass! And what’s with all the layers? Certainly you’ll be food for the fishes in no time._

A burial at sea. Really, it’s what both of them deserve.

What kind of thing would really happen? “His tears were invisible underwater, but she could see that he was crying.” See you at the bottom of the sea, Kimiko! Goodbye forever, darling!

Fukawa smiles. _I’m sorry, Kimiko. There’s nothing I can do._

\---

What the hell is this? crackles the voice at the end of the telephone. Huffing and puffing like the big bad editor.

It’s the truth, Fukawa says. Her voice is steady, holding back her petulance, but her fingers tap nervously at the back of her phone.

Listen, Fukawa, I know you’re a young author, her editor says. But you’re still an author. I know you know this. It’s romance! The truth doesn’t sell. 

Fukawa’s face folds in a little. So what do you want me to do?

We already went over this. She can hear her editor sigh. Follow the script. Change it back, we’ll publish it as scheduled and you’ll be a big hit.

You want me to lie? Lie to millions of our loyal readers?

They love it, her editor says. I promise.

What’s the advance again?

Her editor tells her.

My moral compass has decided to accept your offer, Fukawa says.

There’s truth, and then there’s beauty. One of them sells. I’ll see you tomorrow. Her editor hangs up.

Her other mother appears in her doorway. Touko, honey, is everything all right?

Oh, mom! Fukawa smiles sweetly. I’m sorry to make you worry about me. Everything’s fine. Absolutely fine.

 


End file.
